Emily Millsaps

November 12, 2018 - 0 Comments

2-15-06Women in ScienceRita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian-American neurologist; she did most ofher work at Washington University. She studied mouse tumors implanted inchicken embryos; the pair isolated a nerve-growth factor, the first of manycell-growth factors found in animals. In 1948 it was discovered inHamburger’s laboratory that a variety of mouse tumor spurred nerve growthwhen implanted into chick embryos. Levi-Montalcini and Hamburger traced theeffect to a substance in the tumor that they named nerve-growth factor(NGF). Levi-Montalcini showed that the tumor caused similar cell growth ina nerve-tissue culture kept alive in the laboratory, and Cohen, who by thenhad joined her at Washington University, was able to isolate the nerve-growth factor from the tumor. NGF was the first of many cell-growth factorsto be found in the bodies of animals. It plays an important role in thegrowth of nerve cells and fibers in the peripheral nervous system. It alsoproved to be important when trying to understand cell and organ growth andhow they play a significant role in understanding cancers and diseases suchas Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Rita Levi-Montalcini received the NoblePrize for her discoveries in Physiology or Medicine. In addition to theNobel Prize, Levi-Montalcini has received many honors and awards. In 1963she was the first woman scientist to receive the Max Weinstein Award, givenby the United Cerebral Palsy Association for outstanding contributions inneurological research. In 1975 Levi-Montalcini became the first woman to beinstalled in the Pontifical Scientific Academy. In 1999, the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations named Rita Levi-Montalcinione of its first four FAO Ambassadors, to help in its campaign againstworld hunger.